What Once Was Lost
by thebigmacattack
Summary: It is the year 2555. Edward Buck is ready to retire from the service. But he needs to settle things with Veronica Dare, who has been avoiding him since New Mombasa. However, their shared mission goes wrong and their entire team (including a squad of SPARTAN-IVs) is scattered across the planet Aurelius, surrounded by Covenant who have no idea the war's ended... CANON WITH HALO 4
1. Arrival

I've been writing a few chapters of this and decided to post the first one. Let me know what you think.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Halo or any of the characters within with the exception of my original characters. 343 Industries, Bungie, Microsoft, et. al., own the Halo IP and all characters that are not my own.

The purpose of this story is to provide a concrete ending for Edward Buck, Veronica Dare, and the squad ("Dutch", "Mickey", and "Romeo") from Halo 3: ODST. The fic is canon with Halo 4 and is meant to fit in like a Halo Expanded Universe novel.

* * *

**1. Arrival**

Ruins of New Chicago, Aurelius, June 23rd, 2555

_Sasik is afraid. _

_This is not uncommon for the Unggoy, when faced against a super opponent. The Unggoy are cannon fodder for the Covenant and the entire species knows it. The Kig-Yar at least have specialties given out to them, most frequently sniping. The Unggoy? It was Sasik's observation that they were basically there to die so the Sangheili, Jiralhanae, Lekgolo, Kig-Yar, and even the aggravating Yanme'e would not have to. _

_The problem was, on this forsaken planet, cut off from the rest of the war, the Covenant were running out of Unggoy to send into the field to die. And this is enraging the damned Sangheili in charge to no end. _

_He dives behind cover as one of his brethren takes a sniper's bullet right through the gas mask. He hears his companion's gas container explode, causing an explosion to tear through the area, and forces himself to take a deep, methane-filled breath. The one advantage his small size gives him is that he can hide behind anything as long as it is solid and he is safe. _

_His only weapon is a Needler. It is a treasured weapon among the Unggoy. The Needler is actually lethal. The Plasma Pistol is close to useless, at least in Sasik's eyes. The Plasma Pistol overheats after merely a few shots, and the time it took the pistol to cool down after firing a charged shot just left the Unggoy wide open to getting slaughtered, especially if the Unggoy in question missed. But even a Needler is useless against a sniper. _

_Especially a sniper who is constantly changing positions. Sasik doesn't understand. The world was almost completely glassed, as per the Covenant's typical course of action. There should be no humans left alive. But one was. And Sasik knows exactly what human was still alive in this slagheap of a planet. _

_It's one of the demons. It has to be what the humans called a Spartan, or what the Covenant called a "demon". Has to be. _

_There's no other way. _

_Somehow, one of the demons survived the glassing and is wreaking havoc. Has wreaked havoc for a long time. It's been five years since this world fell to the Covenant. This demon, or possibly a team of them, had caused enough damage that a contingent of Covenant was left behind on this world specifically to eliminate this demon. This was a holy war, and all humans had to die. Especially the demons, who were resourceful, and powerful, enough to steal Covenant vehicles and potentially get offworld. _

_Thousands of Covenant had been left behind to deal with this guerrilla warfare. They're being whittled down, little by little. And no matter where they search, all they find is more slag, more ruin. Where, possibly, could the demon be hiding? And why can't anyone in the Covenant kill it? _

_Sasik sees a Sangheili run into the open, barking orders at the cowering Unggoy that remain such as Sasik himself. It's one of the blue Sangheili, which shows the Sangheili's inexperience in battle. The armor is fresh, clean. It wouldn't surprise Sasik if the Sangheili spent most of his military duty in the rear, and was only been forced out here because the Covenant were running out of troops. _

_It also didn't surprise Sasik when the Sangheili was shot in the head by the sniper. The first shot fried the Sangheili's shields, which made the Sangheili stagger briefly, in a daze, but before the Sangheli could do anything more, a second shot cracked and the Sangheli crumpled to the ground, bleeding blue blood. _

_"Run away!" screams one of the Unggoy. About five or six others join him in getting up and running off of the battlefield. Sasik has seen this happen before too. When the Unggoy run, they die. If they're lucky, maybe one or two of them will make it to safety. _

_Sasik? He was content to remain hiding behind his rock, and just wait for the sniper to go away. _

_He sees a plasma grenade suddenly attach itself to one of the fleeing Unggoy in the group. The Unggoy in question throws up his hands and runs towards the others in a panic. "Get it off of me!"_

_"Stay away from us!" shouts back one of the others, but it's too late. _

_It's always too late. _

_An explosion erupts, followed by several others as the other plasma grenades equipped by the Unggoy go off in succession. The bodies of the Unggoy fly all over the battlefield, two of them right over Sasik's head. _

_Sasik has heard many of the humans laugh in glee over the erroneous, clumsy panic of the typical Unggoy. In a way, Sasik understands. The Unggoy really are a pathetic race in this Covenant, and this was their fate in life. To be a joke for the enemy and a meat shield for their supposed "allies". _

_Sasik is going to have none of that. He isn't going to die as a joke. He knows what he is going to do. He's going to sit and wait. Eventually the sniper will conclude there's nothing left alive and would leave. Then Sasik will make his move and flee. That's how it usually works. It works wonders. Better than running in a panic like his brethren and getting slaughtered. _

_He has several hours left in his air tank. That's all he was going to need. Just wait out three or four hours, then make a go for it. Run off the battlefield and back to his superiors, and be berated over the Covenant's failure to kill the demon, or _demons_, yet again. Especially as they're running out of troops and resources, and there's to sign that any reinforcements from the Covenant were coming. _

_Sasik wonders if there even is a Covenant anymore. They have been cut off for so long there's no telling what had happened in the war. Sasik summarizes that it can't be anything good for the Covenant. Otherwise supplies and reinforcements would've arrived by now. _

_He waits. Tries not to think about the possibility of anything going wrong. Hoping that no Sangheili will come along with reinforcements and restart a battle that just plain could not be won. _

_Silence. Dead silence. Can Sasik dare to keep breathing? Could he hope that his wildest dream would come true? _

_That's when he hears the footstep behind him. _

_Sasik spins and saw the human. And it is not like anything he had ever expected. _

_She is no demon. She is a _child. _Can't be older than eighteen in the humans' years. Long red hair and blue eyes, her body and clothes hidden underneath a brown, worn cloak._

_She has one of the human pistols, the one with the scope that the Covenant feared, aimed right for his head._

_Sasik knows one of the human tongues. He had spent time during the war deciphering human transmissions. It had been a peaceful job. It had been a job Sasik liked. It made him feel smarter and feel important, not like he was just some piece of cannon fodder._

_He chooses to use it. "You're . . . you're no demon."_

_"Demon?" Much to Sasik's surprise, the girl chooses to respond to him. It's more surprising than him getting the human tongue correct. "You mean a Spartan."_

_So, she knows of the Covenant's derogatory nickname for the humans' super-soldier. "Yes."_

_The girl's eyes and grip on her pistol do not waver. Sasik's eyes move and see the sniper rifle slung across her back, and he feels a little better. He would have felt _truly_humiliated if this girl had decimated them all with just a _pistol_. _

_"I may be no 'demon', but . . . I was trained by one." Sasik can tell by her tone that she has no interest in continuing the conversation. She was exposed, out in the open, and if any Covenant come out here she will be dead unless she has backup in those woods up the hill she had been shooting from. _

_"You were trained by a demon?" Sasik asks. _

_"Yes," the girl says. "And I'm showing the Covenant what will happen if they keep crossing into this area, which is what they've done for the last five years." _

_"Death," Sasik replies. _

_"Yes and no," the girl says. "You will die, true, but you know what demons do, yes?"_

_"Hell," Sasik says, his heart sinking into his chest as he realizes the implications behind the girl's words. "You're going to send us into hell." _

_"Exactly. Glad we understand each other," the girl says._

_She's looking through the pistol's scope now. Sasik knows its going to end. _

_"Yes," Sasik says with resignation. Many of his brethren would beg for mercy, or make one futile attempt to run, but Sasik would face his death with dignity. He would not die the way other Unggoy died, to please his masters or unwittingly entertain the enemy. "We do." _

_Sasik hears the shot and sees the flash and feels the impact. _

_And all that follows is the dark._

* * *

The _Ulysses_, in Aurelius orbit, June 25th, 2555

"We're not doing this," growled Sergeant Taylor H. "Dutch" Miles as he rubbed his three-day beard. "We're _seriously_ can't be doing this. I thought we were supposed to be done with, well, _everything_. We won the war two years ago, didn't we?"

"We're here now, aren't we?" asked Lance-Corporal Michael "Mickey" Crespo, who, like Dutch, had been promoted up one rank following the end of the Human-Covenant War in 2552. "Have been here for a few hours. We agreed to this mission over a _month_ ago. Aren't you done asking the question?"

Dutch growled and his head leaned against the window staring down at the world of Aurelius below them.

For his part, Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck could only shake his head. The whole squad knew what they were getting themselves into, and yet they bitched anyway. Then again, considering how Buck felt after waking up from cyrosleep four hours ago, he couldn't blame them. He wanted to complain too.

The war had ended, and yet the squad was still in service. Granted, most of it was peaceful, just wandering from planet to planet, looking for any survivors of glassed planets, occasionally mop up stranded Covenant who refused to believe the war was over. It was nothing to be overly concerned about, or anything truly dangerous.

But this mission was different. It was different because Captain Veronica Dare was coming along for this one. And Edward Buck knew all too well what had happened the _last _time he had gotten involved in one of Dare's affairs.

He was very, _very_ lucky that none of his squad had gotten killed that night in New Mombasa. Or had gotten killed since in any of the mop-up operations run since then against stubborn Covenant for that matter. Though for most of those mop-ups there were Elites around to persuade the Covenant, one way or another, that the war was over.

As far as Buck knew, no Elites were around this time. And that made him concerned. That meant that Dare was up to something she didn't want the Elites to know about.

_This mission is just going to be a nice ray of sunshine_, he thought.

Veronica Dare, for her part, was motioning for the squad to come over. "All right boys, it's time for the briefing before we move in here. We're not just trying to mop up a few random Covenant here. We're here to find something."

"A fetch quest for Veronica Dare," said the fourth member of the team, Kojo "Romeo" Agu. "Do I need to remind you what happened the last time we did one of these?"

"It's not going to happen this time," Veronica said. "We're not going to drop in and make an assault. We're just going to fly-over and provide support from Pelicans and Falcons. We have _specialized_ ground-pounders for the heavy-duty combat here."

"Uh huh," Romeo said. "Sure we do."

"Yes, we do," said a new, _female_ voice from behind them.

Buck turned, and sighed immediately upon seeing her. He wasn't surprised at _all_.

The armor. The imposing figure. Not as big as the second in the series or even the third, but still quite strong.

A Spartan.

"Figures," Buck said. "Let me guess, you're a Spartan Special? Spartan Magnificent? What do they call new Spartans now?"

"Spartan-IV," the woman replied curtly. The woman just rubbed Buck the wrong way. She seemed severe and serious and completely caught up in military protocol without any sense of improvisation. The slicked back, tied-back hair just added to the severity of her appearance and voice.

"Right. Spartan-IVs. Right off the UNSC assembly line," Buck muttered. He didn't have any bias against the Spartans, hell, a Spartan under the callsign of 'Noble Six' gave him the air cover he needed to get his soldiers and some civilians out of Reach about three years ago now. But it just amazed him how more and more kept popping out of the woodwork, and he was wondering the legality of it.

"The Spartan-IV program is not like the Spartan-II and Spartan-III programs," the woman replied. "My name is Sarah Palmer. I assure you we are all professional soldiers and volunteered for the project willingly."

"Right. Sure," Romeo said. It looked like the rest of the squad looked skeptical as well. They had all seen the work of Spartan-IIs and IIIs. While their body of work was impressive, many of them seemed to have something _off_ about them, especially the Spartan-IIIs. Buck recalled that 'Noble Six' hardly said a word to him while providing him air cover. So few words, that Buck couldn't even remember if 'Noble Six' was male or female. The voice of 'Noble Six' was lost in a cacophony of the thousands of voices he had heard during the Human-Covenant War.

"_Anyway_," Veronica Dare said, "We should get down to business. And that probably means waking up your rookie behind you, Buck."

"Huh?" Buck turned around to see the last member of the team snoozing away. "Oh right. Yo, New Rookie. Get up! We got things to do!"

The last member of Buck's squad groaned. "Hey, come on! I asked you to not _call me that_. I have a name, Derek Carmi-"

"And your callsign is 'New Rookie'," Buck replied. "Deal with it."

New Rookie groaned, but he got up and walked over to the holographic briefing table.

"Thank you, Buck," Veronica replied, with just a bit of an edgy, lopsided smile.

Buck just sighed. "You're welcome. Now let's get on with it."

He also wanted to talk to Veronica about more _personal_ matters. He and Veronica still hadn't restarted their relationship. Hell, she had been hard just to track down after the war, she had been running around doing all kinds of secretive Office of Naval Intelligence-related things. One of the primary reasons why he agreed to this mission was so he could finally talk to her and figure out what was up.

Of course, he hadn't realized that meant not knowing what the mission was until they were literally orbiting the planet where the mission was going to take place!

This _definitely_ had shades of New Mombasa all over again. The only consolation was that the Covenant down there weren't going to be as organized, and that they would have these Spartan wannabes.

"The planet of Aurelius was captured by the Covenant in the year 2550," Veronica said. "The capture of Aurelius is partially what put the Covenant on the path to Reach. For the most part, it looks like Aurelius was a standard-issue capture by the Covenant. Infiltration followed by invasion followed by the obliteration of most resistance followed by a glassing of the planet. Well, besides what the Covenant decided to keep for themselves."

"Which isn't very much," Mickey said.

"No, usually it's not," Veronica agreed. "But we're not after whatever the Covenant kept to themselves. We're after something else. An A.I., named 'Leo'."

"As in Leonardo Da Vinci?" Romeo offered.

Not exactly," Veronica said. "I believe it is short for 'Leopold'. He talks with a rather stuffy British accent from what I've heard."

"Oh great," Dutch groaned. "And let me guess, the A.I. is probably rampant too."

"Most likely," Veronica said. "A.I. usually go rampant after seven years. It's been ten since Leopold went into service."

That didn't bode well. Buck had seen a couple of rampant A.I. before. It wasn't pretty. It made the nervous breakdowns he had seen in soldiers look like cakewalks.

"But, we don't necessarily need Leopold," Veronica said. "Just the information he carries. He was placed on Aurelius as part of an effort to provide a solid translation of every Covenant language, from the Grunts to the Elites to the Brutes to even Jackal. If we can extract the data from him, we can always press another A.I. into service to finish the job."

"That is, if he didn't delete it all on us," Buck said.

"A.I., even if they go rampant, don't usually abandon their mission. They just become _obsessed_ with it," Veronica replied. "So I don't think we need to worry about _that_. We just need to worry about getting the data and hoping Leopold is sane enough to let that happen."

"I have brought along four Spartan fireteams," Sarah Palmer said. "Fireteams Ivy, Domino, Kodiak, and Tiger. That's twenty Spartans alongside myself and the H.Q. team. We're going to doing most of the ground-pounding and Covenant-killing. If there are any civilians still alive down there we'll be rescuing them as well."

"Then why the hell are we comin' along on this Spartan love-fest?" Dutch asked.

"Your squad is going to be my bodyguards," Veronica said. "My mission is once Leopold is found, I'm to land and either get him to give me the information or force it out of him. I've brought along my own A.I. for that, Camellia."

"Sounds all fine and everything," Mickey said, "But twenty Spartans and the five of us aren't that much of a force. The _Ulysses_ can hold a lot more people than that, and there's probably a lot of Covenant down there itching to get us all killed."

Veronica smiled. "I took that into account. We have a full ODST company and a mechanized battalion of Marines onboard the _Ulysses_ to provide backup if Covenant resistance is more intense than expected. Not to mention the usual array of Hornets and Pelicans, not to mention Broadsword and Sabre fighters. Aurelius stopped being strategically important to the Covenant after the fall of Reach, so we don't honestly expect much resistance, but if there is some . . . better safe than sorry."

"Bodyguards," Romeo said. "I'm strangely okay with that."

"Good," Veronica said. "Because we're moving out in less than an hour. Get your troopers geared up, Buck."

"I'll get my teams ready to go," Sarah Palmer said, and she turned and left the room in a hurry.

"We need to talk," Buck said.

"We can talk after I'm done picking Leopold's invisible technological brain," Veronica replied. It was the answer Buck was expecting, but it still greatly annoyed him.

She did smile then. "I promise."

It was just genuine enough to give Buck a small amount of hope that was like a little boy being promised chocolate. "All right."

He heard all of his troopers, including New Rookie, snickering behind him. He sighed. Some days, you just couldn't win.

"Seriously," Veronica said, the smile fading. "This is important, Buck. With Leopold's information we could perfectly translate the languages of the Covenant. No more translation errors, and we could have A.I. do all of the talking for us."

"I get it. Great big new hope or something like that," Buck replied. "I'm all for it. Just, when this is over . . ."

"We'll talk," Veronica said. "Promise."

"Thank you."

Buck let Veronica leave then, and turned back towards his troopers. They immediately stood to attention, almost in a comically robotic manner.

"All right. You heard the lady. Gear up. We're not dropping in by drop pod this time so gather as much ammo and rations as you can, we're going in by Pelican, and there's no guarantee we won't be doing a lot of shooting."

"Knowing how things usually go with us, Sarge," Mickey said, "I expect a lot of gratuitous violence and more than a few explosions before this is over."

Buck didn't argue. It was the truth more often than he liked to admit. "Which is why we're gearing up. Now get a move on, especially _you_, New Rookie."

"You really _are_ calling me that," New Rookie replied.

"Yes I am, and you will _like_ it," Buck said pointedly. "Now let's-"

Alarms going off.

"See?" Mickey shouted above the din. "See what I mean? The violence is starting already!"

"We don't know that!" Buck snapped back. He ran to a radio com. "Bridge, what's the situation up there? What the hell is going on?"

He heard a human voice reply, he had no idea if it was the captain or just a flunky. "_It's a proximity alarm! We have incoming Banshees and Phantoms from the planet! We're also detecting anti-ship energy shots from the ground as well_!"

_Oh, that's not good._ Buck immediately thought about chasing after Veronica, but he knew doing so would mean abandoning his men. He had learned after New Mombasa that it was something he just could not do.

Dutch ran to the window. "Um, Sarge . . ."

"What?" Buck ran towards the window and looked down at the planet . . . and he saw several neon violet lights seeming to get bigger and bigger as they got closer to the _Ulysses_.

"What is that?" Buck asked, even though he knew the answer.

Mickey appeared to Buck's right. "Looks like a bunch of killer Covenant death beams, Sarge. And we're gonna get hit."

"Right," Buck said. "All right, make that we're packing in less than five minutes! Oh and . . ."

Buck just shook his head. "Brace for impact."

The ship rocked then as if it was going to explode on the spot, and Buck fell to the ground, the entire room spinning and shaking.

_Note to self: never go on another Veronica Dare mission again._

He wondered if he would live long enough to implement this self-imposed advice . . .


	2. Gravity

Here's another chapter.

The reason why The Rookie from Halo 3: ODST is not being featured here is because I want to respect Bungie's creative choice in making The Rookie a silent protagonist without a name. It would be something impossible to do in this format. So The Rookie is not in this story, however, there will be a reference pertaining to what exactly happened to The Rookie and why there is a "new" Rookie.

This fic is a love letter to Bungie and 343 Industries. I don't want to disrupt their vision, especially as this fic is intended to be canon with the Halo games and Expanded Universe.

* * *

**2: Gravity**

The completely screwed-over _Ulysses_, in Aurelius orbit, June 25, 2555

"Are we dead?" Mickey groaned from somewhere. "I hope so. I'd rather be dead already than be destined to die because we're gonna get yanked out into space or somethin'."

"Mickey, do us a favor and shut up," Romeo growled.

"All right," Mickey replied.

Well, at least hearing Mickey's snarking was a good sign. It meant that Buck's head hadn't come attached from his body. Now came the hard part.

"All right, people! Get the hell up! I don't think it takes a genius to figure out that we're abandoning ship after getting hit like that!" Buck shouted as he struggled to his feet.

"I don't hear a call to abandon ship," Dutch pointed out as he got up. "And I think we should at least gather some grenades or somethin' before we leave."

"Let me figure out what the hell is going on before we go!" Buck said.

That's when Sarah Palmer entered the room, her Spartan helmet on and everything. She was backed up by three other Spartan-IVs, all wearing their unique set of armors. One thing that hadn't been lost between the Spartan-class changes was the customization, Buck dourly noted.

"You five all right?" Palmer barked.

"If you mean alive, yes. Not completely and utterly terrified, no," Mickey said.

Palmer's helmet turned towards Mickey, and Buck knew exactly what kind of _look_ Palmer was giving Mickey. And Mickey knew it too considering how he seemed to shrink from Palmer's gaze. "Right, sorry."

"The _Ulysses_ has been hit pretty bad," Palmer said, turning back towards Buck. "One of the shots hit one of the engines. We're only at seventy-five-percent output. We're effectively a sitting duck and are probably going to get boarded in the next few minutes. The Sabres are doing what they can but it probably won't be enough. We need to get as many supplies, personnel, and vehicles off the ship as we possibly can before they board."

"Why are they boarding us instead of trying to blow us out of outer space?" Dutch asked.

"They're Covenant. They must have their reasons," Palmer replied. "Now let's get moving. We can talk once we're on planet. I am sure we've already begun broadcasting the distress beacon so the fleet knows we're in trouble."

"Oh no," Buck said. He knew exactly what was going on here and the last thing he wanted was a replay of New Mombasa. "We're not going anywhere! Not without Veronica!"

Buck knew what kind of look Sarah Palmer was giving him even without seeing her eyes. "Gunnery Sergeant Buck, I _strongly_ recommend that we prepare to abandon ship. I am sure Veronica Dare can take care of herself."

"This is what happened when the Covenant attacked New Mombasa!" Buck replied. "We all got separated and we're lucky to all be alive right now! I am _not_ letting that happen again! So are you going to let me get Veronica out of here or do I have to kick your pretentious Spartan ass?"

The silence seemed to be deafening. Palmer seemed taken quite aback at being addressed in this way. Even Mickey seemed amazed. "Damn, Sarge . . . you just dressed down a _Spartan_."

"Fine," Palmer growled. "But I'm coming with you, and your men are evacuating with my own soldiers."

"Fair enough," Buck said. He knew he wasn't going to get a better deal out of this than he already had.

Palmer signaled to her soldiers. They began moving out and began escorting Buck's squad away. Mickey shouted "Don't get killed up here, Sarge!"

"I have no plans on that happening, Mickey," Buck said. "Now go. Try to wait up for me, Veronica, and the Spartan here."

"Right you are," Mickey said, and the soldiers all left.

Buck turned in the direction Veronica vanished off to. "All right, Commander Palmer, let's-"

That's when he was seized and slammed against the wall. "You _ever_ humiliate me like that again in front of my soldiers, you will regret it for the rest of your waking life, if you_ever_ wake up at all."

Sarah Palmer's voice was [_extremely_ nasty when she was mad. Coupled with that Spartan helmet completely obscuring her facial features, Buck actually felt afraid for a few seconds. Considering he was also being tangled by his feet, just a little, with _one_ hand, there was no doubt. This woman was a Spartan. She would not so effortlessly lift him otherwise.

"Understood. Now could you please put me down?" Buck managed.

Palmer did so, and Buck tried to keep his breaths of relief from being too audible. Palmer seemed to look away fro a second. "I apologize. I don't usually lose my cool. But remember your place, Gunnery Sergeant. After Dare and the captain of the _Ulysses_ I am the commander of this whole operation."

"Your authority is noted," Buck replied as he readjusted his body armor.

"Also, there is a lot of pressure on me. The UNSC is debating making me the commander of the _entire_ Spartan-IV force," Palmer added. "This is an audition to see if I and my H.Q. team can handle the responsibility of coordinating multiple Spartan teams as well as ODST and Marine units."

"And it's not going thar well so far," Buck said, before he could stop himself.

Thankfully, Palmer did not lash out at him again. "No, it's not. So I'd appreciate no further undermining of my authority."

"I get it. Truly, Commander, I get it," Buck said. "Now can we please get a move on before this ship blows up?"

As if on cue, the _Ulysses_ rocked again. Buck managed to keep himself steady this time, it felt like the ship had been hit farther away this time.

"Agreed," was all Palmer said. The ship being hit looked like it barely fazed her at all.

Buck left the room in the same direction Veronica came from, and Palmer followed. He heard the Spartan commander speak up after a moment. "I know you and Veronica have a personal relationship, and I know that is motivating you more than military protocol right now. But you can't let this relationship control you any more than it already has. You do and you could be considered compromised."

It didn't surprise Buck one iota that Palmer knew of his and Veronica's relationship. The things Spartans could discover went far beyond just figuring out a relationship. Plus, Buck knew he had been making it fairly obvious anyway.

"The truth is, I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the relationship," Buck said. "I didn't think it would be a problem for me and my men. Most of what we've done are mop-up operations. This just seemed like another one with a little bit of fetching added on."

"I understand," Palmer said. "Truly, I do. But if the situation becomes dire, I _am_ taking you to a lifepod and throwing you inside."

Considering how effortlessly she had lifted him before, Buck knew there'd be no way in hell that he'd be able to stop her. "Got it."

Thankfully, other than a couple more rocky moments from explosions, things didn't get worse, so Buck made it to the bridge without much incident. As he went though, he _did_hear the evacuation order being looped in the hallways. That certianly meant that the _Ulysses_ had taken fatal damage, and his heart sank.

This was the last thing he wanted. He was looking for one final op, reunite with Veronica, and the two of them as well as his squad returning home together and finally retiring from the military. He and his squad had done their time. Enough soldiering for one lifetime. Dutch especially deserved a ride home, he had a wife he needed to come home to, he was only sticking around out of respect for Buck.

No, he needed to bring them all home as well as Veronica.

He saw Veronica speaking to the captain of the Ulysses, a middle-aged, ebony man named Theodore Patton.

"Veronica!" Buck shouted the moment he saw her, and she spun towards him, her blue eyes wide in shock.

"Buck!" Veronica exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing here?" Buck said. "I'm getting you off this ship!"

"You don't even know the general situation!" Veronica replied.

"I hear an evacuation order, that's good enough for me!" Buck said.

Veronica scoffed and looked back at the console that she and Captain Patton had been looking at. "Buck, I'm trying to get Camellia loaded with as much information she can including an ability to scan the Covenant battlenet. We're going to need her ready for combat on the ground."

"What is the general situation?" Palmer asked, clearly meaning to refocus the conversation. "Have we been able to identify what's hitting us? I watched some of the shots, I think they're a _little_ too close to be coming from the ground."

Patton spoke for the first time. "Commander Palmer, you're right. The enemy fire is _not_ coming from the ground. We've been able to identify three ships engaging us, a cruiser that Camellia translated as _Justice and Tranquility_ and two supporting corvettes."

An officer shouted from his console. "We've taken out one of the corvettes! Two ships remaining!"

"So the ships were cloaked or something?" Buck asked.

"Yes," Veronica replied. "They were cloaked and in low Aurelius orbit, perhaps even in an atmospheric position. We've been able to force the ships to reveal themselves and it doesn't look like they have any other ships in Aurelius orbit."

"Can we take them out before they take us out?" Palmer asked, right as another explosion rocked the room, shaking it briefly, but causing no lasting harm.

"No," Patton said flatly. "What I'm trying to do is take out the remaining corvette while putting the _Ulysses_ on a collision course with the cruiser. That'll remove all aerial interference besides local banshees and Phantoms."

"That's sacrificial!" Buck said. "Isn't there any other way?"

"My bridge crew will abandon ship at the last moment," Patton said. "I'm not going to throw anyone's lives today if I can help it. I'd have Camellia do all of the work except we need her to accomplish the mission."

"All right, Camellia has it all," Veronica said, ripping a chip out of the console and installing it in the back of her helmet. "She should be adequate with the concept of war now. We need to get off this ship before we're boarded if we can."

"Uh, yeah, about that," said another of the bridge crew at his console. "I've been getting reports that the Covenant have successfully boarded our ship. They're isolated and being pinned down but they're onboard."

"Yes, Camellia just told me that," Veronica said. "Buck, if you don't have a gun on you, I suggest you take one."

Buck brought out his silenced M7 SMG. "I'm good, Veronica. Can we go?"

"Yes," Veronica said with a sigh. She turned to Captain Patton. "Good luck, sir."

"Thank you. I think it'll be about ten minutes before we make impact. Good luck to you," Patton replied.

They left the bridge then, Palmer leading the way with a DMR in her hands. "I'll take point. I have a shield. I can take a few bullets. You two just follow my lead."

"Not a problem," Veronica sighed.

They followed Palmer through the hallway. She began telling them the situation. "I've given my Spartans instruction to evacuate, but to destroy any resistance in their path so others can get out. We only have ten minutes before we plow into the _Justice and Tranquility_ so we can't waste any time."

"If we don't get blown up first," Buck said.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Palmer replied. She flicked the safety off on her DMR and turned the corner.

Before Buck could as much follow her, Palmer suddenly backed up so abruptly that her armor nearly crashed into Buck's nose. It made Buck realize that during all of this he had never thrown his helmet on. No wonder Palmer had warned him about his personal feelings. He had made a _critical_ mistake.

But more distracting was a bunch of incoherent babbling that Buck recognized as stereotypical Grunt. Followed by a shot from Palmer's DMR, the Grunt crying out, and two plasma grenade explosions.

"Suicide Grunts," Palmer said. "I _insist_ on taking point now. My shield can handle some plasma damage."

"I'm not arguing," Veronica said. As she came up on Buck's position though, Veronica whispered "Where's your helmet?"

"I just realized I forgot it, don't remind me," Buck said.

"You realize how completely and utterly stupid-"

"Yes, I do. Let's follow the nice Spartan lady and get the hell out of here."

He could hear a soft chuckle come from the Spartan leading the way, before she vanished into the corner again, and this time, she didn't retreat.

_Huh. So Palmer has a sense of humor after all_.

Buck yanked out his M7 and followed Palmer down the corridor. Palmer was an absolute _machine_ with the antiquated DMR, just pumping the Grunts in their way with multiple shots to the head. It was only when an Elite showed up that there was trouble.

"Down!" Palmer shouted, and Buck and Veronica ducked into the first room they could reach, Palmer taking the room directly opposite as plasma shots filled the corridor. Without even thinking, Buck immediately took a frag grenade, activated it, and threw it down the corridor, and he heard a grunt of surprise before it exploded.

Palmer leaned out then, fired one more DMR shot, and Buck heard the Elite emit a dying moan. The grenade must have fried the Elite's shields so all it would take was a single shot to the head to end the battle.

"I thought they were isolated," Buck said as he began following Palmer through the ship again.

"Obviously they're breaking out or they're having less trouble because of people evacuating," Palmer said. "I have Fireteam Kodiak holding onto a Pelican for us in the hangar bay. If we can make it there we'll be in business and with my HQ team and Kodiak the moment we hit the ground."

"I've barely heard you say a word," Veronica said.

"It was one of our contingency measures planned out beforehand," Palmer said. "In case you were isolated on the bridge during an enemy boarding attempt. Kodiak holds the hangar, my team comes and rescues you. Unfortunately, my team got caught on the wrong side of the ship so it was just me who could rescue you, so they're waiting for us alongside Kodiak."

"You've just got _all_ the answers for everything, huh?" Buck asked.

"Part of the job description," Palmer replied.

Multiple explosions rocked the ship, sending all three of them into the right side of the corridor. They were _loud_ too. "What the hell just happened now?" Buck yelled.

"The _Ulysses_ is badly damaged," Veronica replied. "Camellia reports that a significant chunk of the ship has just been blown off."

"Damn it!" Palmer shouted all of a sudden.

"What?" Buck yelled. "I don't like 'damn it'. That means something just went _wrong_."

"That chunk of the ship that blew off wiped out our escape route," Palmer snarled. "And Fireteam Tiger just went offline save for two of them. I'm already down a team of Spartans and we haven't even landed on the ground yet."

"Camellia's telling me that we have a massive hole in the _Ulysses_," Veronica said, her voice grave. "The middle of the ship is barely intact enough to maintain structural integrity and we're losing power fast."

Sparks began flying from the lights in the corridor. It was obvious electricity wasn't going to hold out much longer.

"Can we still make the hangar bay?" Buck asked.

"Not before we crash into the _Justice and Tranquility_," Palmer replied. "There's some drop pods close by. We have no choice, we _have_ to use those."

So even with his best efforts to prevent it, both he and Veronica were going to drop solo. But Buck vowed in that instance to not let this happen like New Mombasa. He was going to make sure he landed right next to Veronica and get her safe.

Vibrations assaulted the ship then. It definitely sounded like the ship was breaking apart, at least to Buck.

"We're having a lot of drop pods and life pods launching right now," Palmer said. "That's what we're feeling. I think a lot of us are abandoning this ship right now and if we don't join them shortly we're going to be stuck here."

"Or we're breaking in two and we're going to die," Buck said.

"Or that, true," Palmer said, almost nonchalantly. "Now come on."

They followed Palmer to the right, where they came up on a couple of ODSTs keeping a Jackal pinned down. Palmer and Buck joined the ODSTs in their battle and the Jackal eventually got hit and fell on its backside, by whose bullets Buck couldn't tell.

"The _Ulysses_ has taken out the other corvette," Veronica said. "All that's left is the _Justice and Tranquility_."

"Good to know," Palmer said. She suddenly stopped the whole group then. "All right, into the pods."

Buck made sure to choose the pod next to the one Veronica chose. He wasn't going to let her die. Not now.

"By the way," Veronica asked. "You said you lost _all_ of Fireteam Tiger. But two of them are still alive, right? Don't Spartan-IV fireteams consist of five members?"

Palmer hesitated for a second. "Three were killed instantly, the other two were sucked into space. Their helmets and air supplies will keep them alive temporarily but they don't have re-entry modules. They'll burn in the atmosphere or run out of air, whichever happens first. I've told them to put their armor in lockdown so at least there's an _off_chance they'll make it."

"I'm sorry," Veronica offered.

"Don't be. We all knew the risks," Palmer said.

Suddenly, Palmer appeared in front of Buck as he got himself settled down in his drop pod. "By the way, you're gonna need this."

She threw him an ODST helmet and Buck grabbed it. Much to his chagrin, it had his last name on it. This meant that Palmer had possession of his helmet the whole time.

"Thanks," Buck grumbled as he put it on and fastened it.

The drop pod sealed up and the helmet's communications activated just in time to hear Veronica. "_Camellia's telling me that the _Ulysses_ just poured on the engines. We're going to impact the _Justice and Tranquility_ in less than five minutes._"

Buck just leaned his head back against the seat in frustration. _Of course._

Palmer's voice. "_Got any ideas?_"

"I say we worry about a plan once we're off the ship," Buck said.

A brief moment of silenced. Then both women said the exact same thing. "_Agreed_."

"Activate on my mark," Buck said, mostly so he knew Veronica would be ready to drop the same time he did. "One . . . two . . . _three_!"

A jolt, and then the sense of free falling in a glorified metal capsule that he knew all too well yet could never get used to.

He was plummeting from orbit towards the ground.

* * *

Drop pod plummeting towards Aurelius, June 25, 2555

_All right. All right, get your head together. Breathe and get in control. We've got maybe two minutes before we crash into the ground._

Buck opened his eyes and turned on the drop pod's controls and picked up Veronica's and Palmer's drop pods on radar, along with the other ODSTs who had joined up with them without any argument. "All right, _now_ we can plan! Where are we gonna-"

Suddenly, Buck was taken off guard by the visual of several life pods shooting right over his head. "Um, Commander Palmer . . . is that . . .?"

"_One of those life pods contains Fireteam Ivy,_" Palmer replied. "_We should try to coordinate our landing with theirs._"

That sounded like a plan to Buck. When in doubt, crash-land next to the strongest soldiers in the force. "Sound good to you, Veronica?"

"_It sounds fine to me_," Veronica replied, thankfully not arguing.

The radar looked absolutely _full_. Buck grabbed the controls. He could not take the chance on autopilot here. Chances were too high he's crash into something, like a Pelican or a life pod or even Veronica or Palmer if he wasn't careful.

"Where exactly are we heading?" Buck asked.

"_According to Camellia, it looks like the majority of our forces are going to crash in or around most of the remains of New Chicago_," Veronica replied. "_We also have our Pelicans taking heavy fire from Banshees._

"'Light resistance', you said," Buck sighed.

"_The movements and tactics of the Covenant are unrefined_," Palmer said. "_Like a lot of them are rookies. I think this is going to keep the casualties from getting excessive._"

"_All_ casualties are excessive, Palmer," Buck said.

"_I mean so excessive that we won't be able to function as a fighting force_," Palmer said. "_Now hold on. We'll be entering the atmosphere in fifteen seconds_."

The fall continued. A Pelican began re-entry right in of him, to his right, until it was suddenly blown up by a Covenant salvo that he couldn't see. The light from the explosion nearly blinded him and he jerked the controls to the left to dodge it. However, it was putting him closer to Palmer and farther away from Veronica.

"_Watch it, Gunny_!" Palmer shouted as Buck's and Palmer's drop pods got _really_ close according to Buck's radar. He wouldn't be surprised if they were almost close enough to touch if it were possible to open the pods and do such a thing.

One of the ODSTs interjected. "_I'm detecting a lot of fire from the ground. We're coming in hot!_"

"_I see it_!" Veronica shouted.

In the next moment, Buck saw it too. It was like a war zone down there in the remains of New Chicago. Anti-air guns, lots of them, as well as Banshees, were filling the sky with lasers.

"You _sure_ crashing into New Chicago is a smart idea?" Buck asked.

"_I'm not so sure anymore,_ Veronica admitted. "_I'm beginning to think this is the teeth of the Covenant defense._"

"_Well, we're gonna have to kick it in_!" the same ODST said. "_That's what we do-_"

The ODST suddenly cut off. Buck knew what that had to mean. That poor bastard had gotten hit. It was something no ODST liked to think about but it always happened, along with chute failure.

Buck could also see that Veronica was becoming increasingly separated from him and Palmer. "Veronica! You're straying off course!"

"_I've got too much fire! I can't make it to Fireteam Ivy's position_!"

_Damn it_. Buck knew what that meant.

"Palmer, can we adjust to Veronica's position?"

"_Of course we can, but-_"

"She can't make it to where Ivy's gonna land, Palmer! What do you expect us to do?"

"_Well, Gunny, if you take a look_-"

Buck suddenly did.

His mouth went slack.

"Oh."

He was about to crash right into a half-toppled skyscraper.

_This is gonna hurt_.

The drop pod barreled through the skyscraper full speed, shooting through one side and coming out the other and continued to fall, this time at an angle, until Buck's pod came up on another building below. Much to Buck's frustration and disappointment, _he_ was going to land more off course than Veronica was!

At least it looked like she would only be a block or two away. But then again she hadn't been far away in New Mombasa either, and he still didn't make it to her in time before she had been forced to flee.

The pod slammed into the ground. It barely had a moment to rest before Buck removed his safety harness and had the door blast open. All he had was one frag grenade, his silenced M7 SMG, a M6D pistol, and a few clips of ammunition for each gun.

It would have to be enough.

As he took his first step, he saw a Grunt cowering in front him, its back turned towards Buck. "I-Is it over yet?" the Grunt muttered in English.

"No," Buck said.

The Grunt spun towards him and squealed. It promptly ran away, arms in the air, babbling in complete and total gibberish. Buck didn't have the heart to shoot it, it was unarmed and clearly already had enough of the battle.

The battle that was . . .

A deafening roar from above. Buck looked up and saw the sight of a massive explosion in the middle of a Covenant cruiser as the _Ulysses_ vanished into the flower more and more by the second.

"It's just begun."


	3. Proceed With Caution

**3. Proceed With Caution**

Somewhere overlooking New Chicago, Aurelius, June 25, 2555

_She watched the violent collision in the sky from afar. It was a beautiful, tragic sight, watching what was unmistakably a UNSC ship plunge right into the midsection of the cloaked Covenant vessel that had haunted her and her family for the last five years. Ever since the planet's occupation and glassing by the Covenant, that ship had been there, and now, it was gone. _

_But there were no other UNSC ships in sight, which destroyed the little bit of hope budding within her. This was not a rescue operation, or the beginning of a counterattack against the Covenant. Most likely this was accidental, and considering how scattered the various lights were, representing pods and Pelicans and who knew what else, the force onboard that ship was going to get scattered and hunted down. _

_Mother would be disappointed in that . . . and frankly, so was she. _

_"Are you all right?" That was the man she knew as Father. He wasn't her real father, of course, but he and Mother had played the role well in the last five years. All things considering, they were the only Mother and Father she had ever had._

_"I'm watching the battle," she said. _

_They were situated on a hill near some mountains. The perpetually smoking ruins of New Chicago seemed distant, almost like a whole continent away. Madrigal, the place she called home along with Mother and Father and her siblings, laid behind them, through a patchwork of caves that would eventually lead to a small isolated, open area containing a small, old UNSC fortress. The only other way to enter would be via sea, and they had been careful to keep activity to a minimum. _

_"You shouldn't be," Father said._

_"No," the girl agreed. "What I should be doing is getting involved. We should go back into the city, Father. See if we can save any of them." _

_Father is silent. As the girl expected. The family treasured their secrecy and isolation. The only times they exposed themselves was like now, where they had to make supply runs or simply kill Covenant trepassing too close to their location. To expose themselves willingly to kill Covenant, just for the hope of saving lives, was a tricky proposition. _

_And yet, the girl knew she could not watch as the explosion continued to grow in the sky, swallowing the remnants of the ships more and more until only chunks remained of the two. Flaming and seared, the front and back of the Covenant ship and the rear of the Earth ship began to plummet, filling the sky with a scintillating orange glow._

_For five years, since the fall, she and her family only had each other. All other humans were exterminated. There used to be other cells to contact with, but one by one they all fell silent, until it was clear her family was all that remained._

_Her hands gripped her sniper rifle harder. No, she could not stand by. _

_Father finally spoke. "We'll need to get in contact first before we move." _

_The girl relaxed. That was probably the wisest course of action. Mother and Father never went out into the field at the same time, not since they trained her. One of them had to stay behind in case the base was infiltrated while her and the other parent were outside. The other children were much too young to ask to fight competently. She was older than the next oldest child by seven years, after all. _

_But now? Perhaps, considering how everything was suddenly getting _exciting_ again . . . _

_"All right. I'll maintain watch. Get on the radio," the girl said. _

_Father nods and leaves. The girl settles down and begins her recon. _

_She hopes the decision to move in will be swift. _

_She wasn't going to let the people out there die. _

_Not like how everyone died around her five years ago, when the planet fell. _

_Not like that at all . . ._

* * *

New Chicago, Aurelius, June 25, 2555

_Why the hell did I let myself get dragged into this lovers' spat?_ Sarah Palmer thought as she snapped off her safety harness. _I could be doing something much more worthwhile right now that wouldn't have gotten three . . . most likely _five_, of my Spartans already killed._

The door was jammed. Sarah sighed and promptly kicked the door open. Sometimes the Spartan augmentations came in handy in unorthodox ways.

All of a sudden, she saw an Elite in gold armor spin arounds her, and he bellowed out a bestial roar.

_Why am I not surprised?_

Thankfully, she had taken the time to prepare a counter-measure.

She grabbed her shotgun as the Elite ran towards her, clearly intending to impale her right in her seat. Without hesitating, Sarah pulled the trigger and blew the Elite off his feet, overloading his shields and sending him crashing right to the ground.

She took a moment to breathe. She hadn't been sure she would have been fast enough. The _old_ her _definitely_ wouldn't have been fast enough. That much Sarah knew. She had been a good soldier before her augmentations but the augmentations were the reason why she had been able to open fire in time.

She loaded an extra shell into the shotgun to replace the one she fired, and then slung it behind her. She would change to the DMR she had procured for this mission. It was brand-new, with modifications that made it a more modern weapon, although the modifications came at a cost of an extra round in the clip.

She had five clips for the DMR, two fragmentation grenades, twenty-nine rounds ready to be loaded into the shotgun in addition to the six already in there, _and_ a nice little souvenir she was scooping up from the dead Elite here. She was fully loaded and ready for combat.

There was gunfire, both human and Covenant, not too far from where she landed. The path was destroyed enough that there was only one way through these shattered streets, but it was leading her in the direction of the battle. Sarah knew that she needed to link up with someone, _anyone_, and find Buck and Dare. They were her responsibility as much as her fellow Spartans for this operation.

She rounded a corner and took a shortcut through an alley to stumble upon the rear of the Covenant lines. It looked like they were pinning down an ODST trooper across the street. He had landed and gotten himself out by the looks of things, but had promptly gotten pinned down.

Sarah intended to assist with that.

The Covenant were bunched up, surrounding their blue-armored Elite who was fruitlessly trying to get them to move out and surround the ODST trooper. This suggested that they were _stupid_ Covenant. Her favorite kind. Well, besides the dead kind . . . and, she was reluctant to admit, the kind that the Arbiter had rallied to assist humanity in the final days of the war.

This seemed to confirm her theory that these Covenant were rookies or rear-echelon types not accustomed to combat, and these Elites weren't exactly cream-of-the-crop, well, besides the gold-armored one who had tried to ram an energy sword through her stomach.

She carefully moved into a position of cover, and activated a fragmentation grenade. She rolled it in the direction of the Covenant and she hid behind a piece of rubble. She heard a cry of surprise before the explosion, and she brought out her shotgun. There was no way the grenade would have been enough to finish them _all_ off.

She was dismayed to find out that one of the survivors was the Elite. Her shields flashed as she was hit several times but she was able to down the remaining Covenant in four shots. She ducked behind the rubble where the Elite had tried to scamper off to before she had killed him, and reloaded her shotgun and also helped herself to the Elite's plasma grenades.

She heard a couple of Jackals hiss, and there was silence. Sarah peeked out and saw there was still a scattered squad of Covenant out there. She pulled out her DMR and got to work.

The Grunts were unprofessional. Most of them tried to turn tail and run. Sarah just satisfied herself with blowing off their methane breathers as they turned their backs to her. The breathers would fly away and explode, injuring fellow Covenant, making her job easier. The two Elites, both blue-armored, were more of a challenge as they rose up and engaged her.

Immediately with her left hand, she threw one of the plasma grenades she had acquired, and managed to get it to land on her target. The Elite could only roar in frustration before it activated, blowing the Elite's body out of sight. However, the other Elite quickly opened fire, and Sarah grunted as she took some vicious plasma fire. This Elite was not incompetent like his brethren. He actually knew what he was doing.

She was hearing the small, tinny beeping noise that signified her shields were critical. She ducked behind cover, only to find a plasma grenade landing right next to her feet. She rolled away and it went off, taking the rest of her shields down. She aimed her DMR at the Elite's feet and began firing. The ODST trooper that had been pinned down joined in the barrage with bursts from his assault rifle.

The Elite's shields went down and then the ODST trooper finished off the Elite with five or five more bullets from his assault rifle. He ran out in front of Sarah as Sarah's shields began recharging, and Sarah got to her feet. "Friendly!"

The ODST trooper spun towards her. "Oh. Friendly."

The voice sounded familiar. No, Sarah knew who he was.

"New Rookie," Sarah said.

"God damn it, you gotta call me that _too_?" New Rookie groaned.

"Argue with me once we get off the street. We're too exposed here," Sarah said, signaling to the alley where she had emerged from.

"All right," New Rookie reluctantly said, and he followed her to her hiding spot.

"Commander Sarah Palmer, Gypsy Company," she said. 'Gypsy Company' was the shorthand for basically saying she was from the Spartan detachment for this mission. "But we've already met, New Rookie."

They made it to her cover. "Yeah. The Sarge dressed you down."

_Of course he would remember that_. Still, Sarah kept her temper in check. This was no place to start a fight or even reflect on that incident. Especially as she needed to rescue Buck. That would shut that man up for a while at least.

"Yeah," Sarah reluctantly admitted. "Right now, my mission is to link up with your sergeant and the ONI operative Veronica Dare. Where's the rest of your squad?"

"We couldn't make it to the lifepods, so we dropped in," New Rookie replied. "I have no idea where any of the others are. I think my communications are busted, I can't get in contact with them."

Sarah checked her own communications. "No, they're not busted. I think we're being jammed except for short-range coms. I think that will be our new mission once we get your sergeant, Dare, and something resembling a squad together."

This wasn't good. That meant her H.Q. team, who had been with the rest of Buck's squad, had likely taken the drop pods as well and gotten themselves scattered. She was fairly confident they would be all right, New Chicago didn't have any non-Covenant hazards besides some rivers and a lake, so as long as they crashed somewhere in the city, they should have survived the drop. What came afterwards depended entirely on where they landed.

"So what do we do?" New Rookie asked.

"We find Buck and Dare," Sarah replied, reloading her DMR as she spoke. "Check your ammunition. We've stirred up a hornet's nest here. There's gunfire all over the city. We need to find more troopers and-"

"_Mayday, mayday! This is Foxtrot-134 Dreadwing! We've been hit and coming in hard!_"

Foxtrot-134. That was a Pelican. And if she could pick them up over short-range coms . . .

Suddenly, she saw a Pelican with flames out of the port-side engines shoot over her head, pursued by Banshees. The Pelican swerved to the left, trying to put itself in a crash-landing position, and vanished from sight, followed by a loud rumble. The Banshees did not pursue to finish the craft up, they were being chased by a Longsword, which was firing at them with everything it had. The Longsword could be equipped with protection that would allow it to survive atmospheric entry, but it wouldn't be able to break the atmosphere once it did. It would need a place to land on the ground.

No, she would worry about that later. She had a new priority now.

"New Rookie, on my six. We're going to secure the Pelican crash site first. Once it's secure we're going to link up with the survivors and find Buck and Dare. Go, now!"

She raced down the side of the road, periodically looking to her right for any sign of Covenant. She cut her way through a building, took a trio of Grunts by complete surprise as they seemed to be clustering around a methane tank. One bullet in the methane tank later, there were no Grunts to worry about.

Ignoring the carnage, she switched to her shotgun in case there were any _other_ close encounters, and picked her way through shell holes and debris, and took out two Jackals in her way. She heard New Rookie fire his assault rifle, and turned around to see him taking out a pair of Grunts, who were only able to manage one plasma pistol shot between them.

"Keep moving!" Sarah urged as she forced her way outside. There, she saw the downed Pelican, resting on his side, its ramp hanging open. There was a layer of destroyed wall around the Pelican's crash site, providing a natural defensive position around the crash site.

There, she saw an Elite yank a clearly wounded pilot out of the Pelican and seem to prepare for an execution. Immediately, Sarah took out her DMR and opened fire at the Elite's head. The Elite spun as his shields flickered, but as he shot back his shields went down from the bullets to the head. One more shot later, the Elite was down, and Sarah's shields had minimal damage.

There were two more Elites and three more grunts. Sarah and New Rookie dispatched them both, with the help of a young-ish Marine who couldn't be older than nineteen who seemed to be the only unhurt member of the Pelican group.

"Oh thank God!" the young marine said, his blue eyes wide with both terror and relief. "Rescue, already! You Spartans _are_ good!"

"We do our best, Private," Sarah replied coolly. "Commander Palmer, Gypsy Company. Private, you help New Rookie get the wounded to cover. If any of them can shoot, arm them and have them watch our six. I'll establish a perimeter."

"'New Rookie'?" The young private eyed the ODST trooper. "You're really being called that?"

New Rookie groaned.

As Sarah moved in, her motion sensor lit up to her right, just the young private shouted "Watch out!"

A red-colored Elite this time, with a Covenant Carbine by the looks of it. Her shields lit up multiple times from the impacts. There was no time to switch to her shotgun, and there was no way she'd kill the Elite in time with the DMR before the Elite would strip her shields. So she took out her last plasma grenade and chucked it at the Elite.

It missed.

The plasma grenade served the purpose of distracting the Elite and making its shields flare. New Rookie joined in the attack, making the Elite's shields vanish, and then Sarah provided the _coup de grace_, shooting the Elite in the head. The Elite let out a garbled growl as it fell backwards.

"Oh wow," the young private said. "The Elites really _do_ say 'blargh' when you kill them."

In Sarah's many years as a soldier, she had never heard an Elite's death noises described that way. "What do you mean?"

"I thought it was an urban legend, like them honking when you kill them too."

_Great. The one uninjured soldier on this Pelican is not only a rookie, but he's an idiot too!_

"Don't worry about urban legends right now, Private. Get the wounded to cover with New Rookie and arm them if you can. I'm going to check the latch and see what ammunition you guys were able to take out of the _Ulysses_ while there's a lull."

"Uh, yes, ma'am."

As the young private and New Rookie got to work, Sarah muscled the rest of the hatch open. She found two ammunition crates, which contained DMR and assault rifle ammunition as well as some fragmentation grenades and shotgun shells. These would do nicely.

She forced the DMR crate out into the open and began establishing a perimeter. There was a clearing in front of her full of sand, like dirt that had been drained of all useful minerals. It looked like the remnants of a playground, at least, if those pipes she saw were remnants of a swingset like she suspected.

She picked off three Grunts who clearly had no clue what was happening. Once again, Sarah was left to wonder if the Covenant here were mostly unused to combat. But why would that be?

Her murdering the three Grunts seemed to piss off a metaphorical hornet's nest, however, and soon other Covenant began pouring into the clearing and they began shooting at her. Her heart sank as the numbers swelled, from five to ten to twenty to even more. Ducking behind cover as her shields flared and began beeping, she crawled over to the crate, yanked out two grenades and threw them out into the clearing one at a time. Even this provided no respite as her arm was hit with a bullet, making the beeping of her shields even louder.

At least one of the Covenant here had an idea of how to fight.

The grenades went off as Sarah established her defensive position again, taking out some Grunts and Jackals but not injuring their commanding, blue-armored Elites. It looked like their tactics here were to overwhelm her with superior numbers. Foolish, as they would take a lot of losses, but it would work unless she had reinforcements . . . or if this was a distraction while others tried to sneak in from behind the same way Sarah had to enter this battle in the first place.

She hoped that some of the injured could still hold weapons. It'd be up to them to keep the Covenant from overwhelming them from behind.

New Rookie ran up to her position. "We have four other survivors besides the private. They have broken bones, something biofoam won't fix."

_Damn. _"All right. Did you stabilize them?"

"Yes. Two of them could be armed with assault rifles. They're watching the entrance we came through."

They were having this conversation while trading fire with the Covenant trying to rush across the open ground. New Rookie blew up a few of them with a well-timed grenade toss, but more were just coming. It seemed she had attracted the attention of an entire company from the looks of it.

The young private crawled his way towards their position as well. "Where's the rest of the rescue party?"

"We're it," Sarah replied.

The young private's face fell. "Crap."

"Don't panic. You and New Rookie take cover in the Pelican's hatch, there's better cover there. Lay down precision fire with the DMRs. I'll keep attracting their attention. New Rookie, we're trading, take my DMR and I'll take your assault rifle."

"Uh, uh, okay!" the private yelled.

"We'll make it out of this, Private . . ."

"Hershall."

"Yes, Private Hershall. Now wait until I lay down covering fire!"

She took New Rookie's assault rifle, and New Rookie also tossed his assault rifle ammunition at her feet. She let loose with a full clip. "Go!"

They scrambled away from her position, and then she ducked down and shoved another clip into her assault rifle. Damn it, there were so many of them! Too many for just her and two Marines to handle!

A voice, a woman's on the radio. _"We're under attack from the rear! We scared them off with a couple of frags but they know we're here now!"_

That must be one of the wounded that New Rookie must have set up to guard the door. "Just hang on! Just keep doing your jobs and we'll do ours!"

"_Yes, ma'am! We'll do what we can_!"

The one saving grace was that there were no vehicles. There was no way they'd hold out against vehicles. But even so . . .

Just too many of them.

Still, all of this shooting had to attract _allied_ attention, not just Covenant. Surely someone else would come over and provide assistance! All she would need is Domino or Kodiak or Ivy Teams entering the battle and that would be more than enough!

That's when sniper rifle rounds echoed above her, to her right. A voice on the radio, one Sarah recognized. "_This is Romeo. I believe there's a Juliet here in need of rescuing?_"

_Give me a break_. All of this work and that asshole would say that _Sarah_ owed him one? "Number one, I'm no Juliet. Number two, I never needed rescuing, just reinforcements. Number three, keep those Covenant pinned down until we chase them off!"

"_I'm on it, ma'am. Managed to pick up two other snipers on my way_."

"Thank you," Sarah said. Three snipers would definitely help even the odds. In fact, the sniper rounds seemed to have taken the Covenant by surprise and they were retreating, at least for now.

Sarah ran from her position then as the Covenant retreated. "New Rookie, watch the perimeter! I'm going to clear our six!"

"Uh, all right!" New Rookie said, completely surprised.

Sarah ran over to where two of the injured were hiding by the shell hole she had emerged from. The woman of the two turned towards her. "We've got a squad trying to break through! Black-armor, spec-op types! We're keeping them away by throwing grenades but we're just about out of them!"

"I'll clear the room," Sarah said. "You both have done well."

"Thank you, ma'am," the woman said, clearly relieved to hear that.

Sarah took out her shotgun and marched through the room, only to be engaged right away. _These_ Covenant knew how to fight, they were immediately throwing plasma grenades at her, forcing her to take cover, only for her cover to shatter from plasma fire.

She underhanded a grenade at one of the openings and ran forwards. The grenade went off, and she heard alien cries of pain and death as she leaped into the opening to find some spec op Grunts and Elites trying to reform.

She wouldn't let them.

She emptied her entire shotgun into the Grunts and Elites, killing most of them save for one Elite and one grunt. She threw her shotgun to the ground and pulled out her assault rifle to finish the job, finally ending the battle up close and personal with the elite, shoving the butt end of her rifle into the Elite's head with so much force she broke his neck.

She took a moment to take a deep breath of relief and then walked over to her shotgun and picked it back up, reloading it one shell at a time as she walked out of the room. She forced herself to ignore the smell of dead alien as she always did, and picked her way back to the crash site.

The woman looked at her. "Clear?"

Sarah nodded. "Clear. We should be okay for the moment."

"Thank you, ma'am," the woman said.

"Thank me once we're able to get you out of here," Sarah said. She saw Romeo and New Rookie conversing at the perimeter, while Private Hershall was just sitting down in the Pelican hatch, clearly shaken up.

"I'm going to discuss defending our position with the ODSTs. Hopefully one of them brought along a usable rally beacon. We'll use it to bring more forces here and get you people to safety," Sarah said. "Just keep watching our six."

"Yes, ma'am," the woman replied.

Sarah walked over to Romeo and New Rookie. "Thanks for the back-up, Romeo." She was careful to not imply she needed rescuing.

"No problem, it's what I do," Romeo replied.

"I don't believe we can move the wounded until we have numbers and something resembling transportation," Sarah said. "We're going to need to make this position Alpha Base. Set up a homing beacon if any of you have one so we can rally forces here."

"No offense, ma'am, but this is the worst Alpha Base I've ever seen," Romeo replied.

"Don't have much of a choice. The wounded can't be moved. They have to be stabilized here. In any case, once we have transportation and reinforcements this won't be Alpha Base. We'll find a better one."

Romeo groaned.

"Just have you and your snipers keep the Covenant from rushing us again," Sarah said. "The Pelican provides adequate cover. New Rookie, Private Hershall, and I will maintain the perimeter. Two wounded are stable enough to keep our six protected until we have reinforcements. And we will get them once we set up a homing beacon."

"I don't have any better ideas," Romeo said. "What about you, New Rookie?"

"I got nothin'," New Rookie replied.

"You're a big help," Romeo groaned.

"My mission right now is still to find Gunnery Sergeant Buck as well as the ONI officer Veronica Dare," Palmer said. "Hopefully the homing beacon will bring them to us. If not, once we have adequate numbers I'll go and find them personally. Once Buck and Dare have been secured we will leave Alpha Base to establish one in a better, more fortifiable position. That's my plan."

"All right," Romeo said. "I've been in contact with Dutch. He's on his way over. Depending on resistance he'll be here with a few ODST and Marines pretty soon."

"See?" Sarah asked. "A few more squads like that and a few Warthogs and we'll be able to get the wounded out."

She heard a loud jet engine and she watched another Longsword, or perhaps the same one, fly over their position. "And if we have enough Longswords here, we'll have air superiority, especially if we can give them a place to land. This battle is winnable, people. Now do your assignments."

"Yes, ma'am." Both ODSTs said this, and neither were particularly enthused, and, to be honest, Palmer would have preferred a different position. The saving grace was the downed Pelican, ironically, as well as the fact that the Covenant only had two easy ways to get in here, and one of them was rushing through the clearing. However, the clearing was big enough for multiple Wraiths. Hopefully by the time those showed up she would have heavy weaponry or a vehicle of her own to engage them with.

She got her DMR back from New Rookie, got some ammunition and grenades, and situated herself along the destroyed wall that was her perimeter.

This was doable. She just hoped her Spartans were all right. They were the difference maker here.

Her hopes for winning, and not just surviving, rested with them.

Hopefully they knew what to do. She had helped train them, after all.

New Rookie moved into the Pelican and found a homing beacon and activated it. Sarah nodded at New Rookie. No turning back now.

There was never any turning back the moment the _Ulysses_ had been crippled, now that she thought about it . . .

* * *

I didn't quite realize the unpopularity of Sarah Palmer when I began this story. I hope she comes off acceptable to people, including her detractors.

Until next time.


End file.
